COVID 19 CASE

Overview:

Conduct a sector-specific analysis of how firms in a specific industry sector are adapting to COVID-19 pandemic conditions. You are free to focus on firms in a specific country or large multi-national companies in a specific industry.

Once you find an industry or sector with a number of examples that you find interesting, then focus your analysis on that specific sector (for example, car sales, restaurants, education institutions, telecoms, airlines, general merchandise retailers, clothing retailers, electronic retailers, etc.). It is very important that the industry you select has a sufficient volume of information available for you to consult. If there has been very little written about a particular industry and Covid19, it would be wise to select a different industry.

You should begin by conducting research to explore how different industries or sectors are adapting their businesses to COVID-19 conditions - in particular, look for changes in firms' target markets and marketing mix elements.

Please use the following outline as a guide for your Sector Analysis: 1. Sector Background: Outline the size and market characteristics of your sector, up to the point of the COVID-19 impacts in 2020. How big was this sector, who were the main competitors, prior to the onset of COVID-19? Check out the various links and research sources pointed out at the end of this assignment outline - inclusion of data from one or more of these sources will contribute to on this Case Analysis.

2. Sector COVID-19 Impacts: How has COVID-19 challenged this specific sector (sales and profitability, and its ability to execute its marketing activities)? What have been the impacts of COVID-19 on this sector? Again, citing reliable data sources will contribute to on this Case Analysis.

3. Sector Strategy Adaptations: How have organizations in this sector modified or adapted their operations and strategies to deal with these challenges? Specifically, cite examples of changes in operations and the marketing mix elements of firms in this sector, and if appropriate, even in the targeting efforts of these organizations. a. Targeting: Have some firms in this sector been more impacted than firms with other target markets, or have the various target markets of all competitors been universally impacted? Has COVID-19 created any targeting opportunities that competitors have taken advantage of? b. Offering Creations & Pricing: How have firms changed their offerings in response to COVID-19 challenges? Have their prices or other exchange features changed? c. Delivery or Distribution: How have firms adapted to delivery challenges created by COVID-19? Have any delivery or distribution changes or opportunities been created in response to these challenges? d. Communication: How have firms adapted to communication challenges created by COVID-19? Have any communication opportunities been discovered as a result of COVID-19? e. Operations: How have firms changed their operations such has staffing, hours of operations, Covid-19 precautions, etc.

4. Remaining and Ongoing Sector Challenges: What challenges have yet to be resolved by organizations in this sector?

5. Strategy Recommendations: Based on your research, are you aware of any examples of "best practices" by specific firms in your industry? What firms in the industry seem to have adapted best to this unprecedented challenge? What lessons can be gained from these firms? Are there any specific recommendations you could make to other firms in this sector to help them adapt to the continued coronavirus challenges?

Research Websites The following are websites that you may find helpful to find demographic and other customer information and data on trends and related industry and competitive analysis. Since Covid-19 is such a new event, there will not be a great deal of research conducted as of yet. You will probably find most of your information from current event sources such as newspapers and magazines.

Industry Association Websites Note: For the industry you are researching often there are industry websites that have valuable studies and other information. A few examples are listed below. For websites like these there are often links to additional sources of information. For example, on the Coffee Association website there are links to magazines that have relevant market data such as the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, Fresh Cup Magazine, Specialty Coffee Retailer Magazine and Canadian Grocer.'

Business Association website Retail Retail Council of Canada

Restaurant Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association Coffee Shop Coffee Association of Canada

o You can use some demographic profiling software that makes it easy to Retrieve population, income and demographic profiles for locations you define and find target market areas that match the lifestyle and geo-demographic profiles of the people you described anywhere in Canada. o Statistics Canada's including EStat website from Business Research o Performance Plus, a federal government tool for financial analysis o PEW research and CORA, specifically "Trends" and "Data Analysis" i.e. Environics' surveys o Business Source Complete, CBCA. CBCA includes Canadian newspapers which are great sources for trends, facts. Available on NSCC Library site under databases. o Canada Business Site: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/business/research.html

The Canada Business Service Centre can provide information at no charge and can be reached at 1-888-576-4444. For example, if you want to know the total population from the most recent census within 10 km of Charlotte St. for certain age categories they can provide this information.

Another example would be if you want to know consumer spending on racquetball equipment within that same geographic area they could find it for you and email the results.

To learn more about demographic, and social trends that could affect a specific sector, investigate data from the censuses from Statistics Canada.

Be sure to look for computer and internet usage statistics and think about whether they are a positive indicator for the sector you have selected. The resources at http://www.clickz.com/stats and http://www.acnielsen.ca/products/index.shtml can help.

Identify key competitors in a sector. A simple "yellow pages" (http://www.yellowpages.ca/index.html) listing of firms in the same business category can help start your search.

Note: Try to complete it in summarized way, not so lengthy, so that I can understand it easily.